


Close Your Eyes (We're all Human)

by Hyaluronic



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Claustrophobia, Explicit Language, Glitter Bombs, Joe waxing poetic about Nicky, M/M, Nile is so done with everything, Panic Attacks, because seriously these goobers have some serious potty mouths, she blames copley
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:55:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26561752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hyaluronic/pseuds/Hyaluronic
Summary: Logically, she knew - in some faint recess of her overactive imagination - she wouldn’t die but her anxiety had her dredging up faint flashes of Quynh screaming and pounding against the confinements of her watery grave.Or; Nile is not having a very happy-shiny day at the moment.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Nile Freeman & Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani
Comments: 22
Kudos: 161





	Close Your Eyes (We're all Human)

**Author's Note:**

> Heed the tags please, I don't think anything is overly descriptive in regards to the panic attack or the claustrophobia Nile is experiencing but please use your own judgement if those types of things might make you uncomfortable. 
> 
> This is the word vomit that spewed forth from a prompt I was sent on tumblr by an anon asking for Nile in trouble and Joe having to distract her from her predicament. Not quite sure if this was what nonny was asking for but tis where my brain went.
> 
> Enjoy!

The loud rapport of a gun echoing snapped Nile awake with a groan, a trembling hand coming to rest against her breast bone. The weary ache of healing bone and the tackiness of the blood against her fingers were a stark reminder that the echo of the gun that had awoken her had been her herald into the bleak emptiness of a short lived death.

“Motherfucker!” She hissed, the declaration doing nothing to stem the pain from the half remembered intensity of a bullet searing through flesh and breaking bone but it did help her feel better to curse the ass who had shot her. The mission, she had decided, sucked major balls and she would definitely be sending Copley a thank you glitter bomb when this was all said and done. 

“Nicky?” She questioned softly as she blinked her eyes open only to be greeted by complete and utter darkness. 

“Nicky!” Nile shouted in concern and went to sit up when something soft and solid stopped her. 

Deft hands fumbled around her and the distinct slippery feel of satin under her fingertips had a chill racing down her spine and a shiver of anxiousness creeping through her limbs. “Nicky?” 

Nile patted down her pockets before finally finding her cellphone and pulling it from her pocket. With a shaky breath she tapped the screen and immediately winced against the harsh light that flooded her confines to reveal the white satin interior of a casket - the darkened shadowed script of Psalm 23 glaring sardonically down at her from the pillowed head panel. 

Nile closed her eyes with a stifled sob. She took a deep breath before she finally found the courage to open her eyes and take in her surroundings. Her free hand reached up to cautiously touch the embroidered words above her in seemingly disconnected astonishment. Everything felt surreal, like she was watching her hand caress the fabric through a muted lens, almost as if she was floating through a dreamscape; but, the gentle tickle of silky-smooth fabric beneath her fingers had gravity pulling her back down as reality slammed into her senses like a freight train. 

Nile took a deep breath as the reality of her situation started to set in, a giant ball of nausea induced panic started to rush through her. This couldn’t be happening, this wasn’t real. Jesus H. Christ this wasn’t _happening!_ She clenched her fist and slammed her hand against the billowy script. “Nicky? Andy! Joe!?” 

Her heart stuttered at the burning silence that answered her calls, the painful palpitation of knowing that no one could hear her had her limbs burning with the intense desire to move. Nile made an attempt to bend her knee but aborted the action when her knee knocked against one of the casket’s panels. She slammed her hand against the head panel once more with a cry of frustration - her feet started bouncing nervously from pent up energy, the knocking of her boots against the end of her confines creating a creaky staccato that reverberated through the small space. “Please, God, _someone!_ ” 

“Fuck!” Her chest was burning - icy tendrils of fear that seemed to have wrapped languidly around her sternum. The tiny threads of dread tightening their grip with every breath she took till her throat felt as frozen as her chest and each breath was fire that burned her airway. 

She hated small spaces. No, hate was too nice a word, she loathed - abhorred - _despised_ being confined. She had thought she worked through most of her claustrophobia during basic training but apparently there was still a small space left in the irrational part of her mind for fear of being confined to a _fucking_ casket. 

God, she was trapped in a coffin! The notion had Nile pounding her fist against the head panel a few more times, a strangled sound of frustration working its way from her before she let her hand fall to her heaving chest, eyes wide, and lips trembling. 

Nile sniffed and as her vision began to blur she quickly wiped the tears from her eyes. She could do this, she just needed to breathe, she needed a damned moment to think. She wasn’t alone in this, Nicky had been with her - he was probably on her way to her right now - and Andy and Joe had been waiting at the extraction point for their call.... 

Her phone! 

Nile cursed at her own panic induced stupidity and quickly unlocked her phone. She prayed that there would be some kind of signal and was rewarded with two beautiful bars sitting innocently in the top corner of the screen. “Thank you, Jesus.” 

Nile quickly scrolled through her contacts before clicking on Joe’s cell number. It barely rang once before she could hear the sweet sound of Joe saying, _“Nile?”_

“Joe!” She hated how squeaky her voice had gone at just the mere thought of having someone here with her, even if it was just a voice through a speaker. “I don’t know what happened but I was shot and then there was nothing and I woke up in a casket and I have no idea where I am or what happened - or where Nicky is - and I think I’m gonna throw-up!” 

“A casket? Nile?” 

She could hear Andy in the background questioning Joe’s reply. “Yes, a casket, Joe! Little tiny box with white satin lining that is currently inducing the world’s crappiest panic attack!” 

“ _Breathe._ ” Joe stated, a slow exhale resounding through the phone’s speaker. 

Nile followed his example, taking a shaky breath to try and calm her rattled nerves, “Joe, I can’t do this. I hate small spaces. _Please._ ” 

“It’s alright, _Little Sister,_ ” Joe whispered, the quiet timbre of his voice rich and comforting. “Andy is on the phone with Copley as we speak, we will be there as quick as a whip. What do you need?” 

Nile’s lip quivered, her hands were shaky and uncoordinated as she swiped against the heat she could feel pooling at the corner of her eyes once more. She hated this. She hated that she was reacting this way. Logically, she knew - in some faint recess of her overactive imagination - she wouldn’t die but her anxiety had her dredging up faint flashes of Quynh screaming and pounding against the confinements of her watery grave and had her fighting for breath as bile rose hot and heavy in her throat. “J-just talk. Please, just talk.” 

“As you wish.” 

“T..tell me about…” Nile winced at the roughness of her voice before continuing, “Tell me about the day you knew Nicky was the one.” 

Joe’s gentle laugh had Nile’s lips twitching in an attempted smile; she could easily picture Joe’s face, could see the little crinkles that framed his twinkling eyes and the way his lips ticked up into that amused little grin that seemed to settle on him like a well worn garment any time Nicky was mentioned, the image made the tangled ball of fright in her stomach settle just a little. “My Nicolò was a much different man 900 years ago. He was not the graceful fighter he is today.” 

“B-bull in…” Nile swallowed against the tightness in her throat, “Bull in a china shop?” 

“More like a cat on a hot tin roof.” Joe replied fondly with a breathy laugh. 

The pressure pushing against her chest seemed to ease at the idea of Nicky being a clumsy man. She had to laugh at just the mere image of Nicky tripping over rocks and knocking into walls and being just a general hot mess. The idea went against everything she knew of current day Nicky and his controlled - almost balletic - movements. 

“Time has worn away much of our life together but the day my heart swelled with such unbridled love for this gangly-limbed man will be one I will never forget.” 

Nile could hear Andy say something muffled in the background that had Joe shooting back a reply in one of the many mingled languages she had yet to learn to decipher. “Andy says I don’t have to worry the world will never forget with as much poetic waxing as I do about Nicky.” 

“You do…” The air was starting to become unbearably warm, Nile noticed as she took a small wispy breath, “like your speeches.” 

_“There are books dedicated to his ass, Joe.”_ Nile chuckled quietly at Andy’s faint reply. 

“And what a glorious ass it is but it was not what made me look at Nicolò and realize that I was so entwined with this man that it was inconceivable that we would ever part. But that is what love is, it is a madness that erupts from deep within and leaves you breathless and when everything settles you realize in the ashes you have found that missing piece of your soul.” 

“Sounds,” Nile coughed and tried to control her breathing even as sweat started to trickle down her body, “sounds wonderful.” 

“Love is a many-splendored thing.” 

“Okay, Grandpa.” She really didn’t have room to talk, she supposed, she could remember watching the movie many times when her Nana would babysit her and her brother. Her Nana had such a huge crush on William Holden. She made a mental note to stream the movie and watch it with Joe when this was all over with - outside, she amended, on a giant projector screen in the middle of a field. 

“Nicolò and I were at the Abbey of Montecassino, Nicolo had been climbing a ladder to reach one of the books on the top shelf at the library.” There was the sound of a car door opening and slamming shut over the speaker during Joe’s brief pause. “When he over corrected his attempt to reach a book, Nicolo crashed into the shelving causing a cascade of books and shelving units to fall in a fantastical domino effect.” 

Nile hummed and slowly let her eyes drift closed at the lull in the conversation, finding herself picturing Nicky standing lost - a confused puppy dog look on his face - in a sea of old musty books and downed shelving units. 

“Seeing my Nicky standing in the accidental destruction he had created,” A grunt drifted over the speaker and Nile swore she could hear the distant sound of banging, “and watching his eyes widen at the mere idea of having destroyed the priceless books of the library was when I knew.” 

Joe’s voice had started to fade to a fuzzy static, as if he was speaking to her from miles away. Nile struggled to take in one more breath before she found herself drifting away into the quiet black. 

_“Nile!”_

Said woman shot up, chest heaving in breaths of cool evening air. Nile shoved back against the hands that were grabbing at her, her chest aching at the frigid air that felt like the first sweet taste of water after days in desert heat. 

“Nile, it is alright. Shhh, we have you.” Nile looked up and when she realized iit was Joe holding her steadily by her shoulders allowed herself to sag in relief. “We have you, Sorellina.” 

“Ni…” Nile coughed roughly to clear her throat before trying again. “Nicky?” 

“Work in progress. Let’s get you taken care of first.” Andy answered, reaching her hand down to help pull Nile to her feet. 

-_-_-_-_-_- 

Nile snuggled into Nicky’s navy blue hoodie and wiggled her way tightly against Joe’s side and had to grin when the man put an arm around her and pulled her close. It had been well after midnight by the time Copley had tracked Nicky’s burner phone to a warehouse on the docks and another hour before they had reached him, guns at the ready but totally unnecessary as Nicky had been in the process of extracting her location from the last man standing. 

Her heart swelled oddly at the sight of a blood caked Nicky standing menacing over a half conscious cliched mafia goon, demanding that the man answer his questions. Upon seeing them burst through the warehouse Nicky had made quick work of the unknown man and before he hugged her tightly and whispered repeated apologies for which she answered with a tight hug of her own and a quiet _thank you, grande Fratello._ Nicky had grinned so stupidly at her hushed words and ended up clinging that much tighter to her gently rocking her back forth. 

And, now, here they were hours later unable to sleep and packed together on the couch of some random safe house, Nile on one side of Joe and Nicky on the other with Andy draped across them. 

“So what’s this movie about again?” Andy asked as she shoved a handful of M&M’s into her mouth. 

“It’s about an American reporter covering the Chinese Civil War and falling in love with a widowed doctor despite everyone being general dicks about their relationship.” Nile summarized, shoving her hands into the pockets of the hoodie after she had hit the start movie button. 

“It is a very good movie.” 

Nicky shook his head at Joe’s comment, “The book was better.” 

“Such a book snob, Nicky.” Joe admonished before dodging a few projectile M&M’s from Andy. 

“Hush, I want to watch this.” 

“Alright, alright.” 

_2 Weeks Later_

James smiled at the package Nile had sent him. He quickly slit through the tape holding the package closed and peeled back the flaps before a loud bang had him back tracking as brilliant sparkling specs of glitter coated him and everything in the surrounding area in bright shiny chips of plastic. 

“Children, the lot of them.”


End file.
